Hyväksymispäivämäärä

Tiivistelmä

Higher education governance reforms in Europe are gaining increased attention from HE scholars. Past three decades witnessed reforms of higher education governance in almost all countries in Europe. The topics of HE autonomy, funding, and performance are increasingly gaining ground on the policy makers agendas. The governments are trying to find new ways to steer higher education institutions in order to increase their efficiency and effectiveness and create contribution to national economies. The focus of this thesis is on the relationships between the state and higher education institutions, as well as between different bodies inside the higher education institutions themselves. In other words, the research focus is on internal and external governance. Combination of exploratory and descriptive multiple case study was selected as a research strategy for the purpose of this dissertation. Five European countries have been chosen as case studies: Austria, Finland, North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany), the Netherlands and Slovenia. Their experience with governance reforms is then applied in Serbian context in the form of recommendations for Serbian policy makers. Semi structured interviews with HE experts and other stakeholders have been used for data collection, and governance equalizer and multi-faceted model of organizational change for data analysis.

This research produced a number of important findings. First, in the case of five European case studies, there were many changes in both external and internal governance. The governments of these countries decided to steer higher education from a distance, granting higher education institutions higher institutional autonomy. At the same time accountability requirements increased in form of performance based budgeting, introduction of external stakeholders to governing bodies of higher education institutions, reporting, quality assurance, and evaluation and accreditation procedures. Also, the governments emphasized greater role of markets in higher education and foster universities to compete for additional funds, students and staff. In terms of internal governance, higher education institutions have been strengthened as organizations. The role of Rectors and Deans increased, while collegial bodies lost their power and now have mainly advisory role. When it comes to Serbian context, many problems have been identified and some solutions for the new higher education reform was suggested. The main recommendations are for the government to increase its interest and role in higher education on one hand, and to integrate public universities on the other. That will open more space for funding reforms, increased autonomy for higher education institutions, institutional management reform and better efficiency and effectiveness.